F23A4

and that Mitsu sales guy was a dork. I wouldnt have even pointed out the Evo's shortcomings and just walked out.

F23A4

Yeah. That's what I meant...whiny.

D_Nyholm

Relax people, why don't we just keep this civil??? Thanks!!

antho2006

Has the vibration problem been bad enough for anybody here to regret not buying a g35?

iambgood

For those of you who bought or have had a G35, what were the insurance prices you all were paying? I'm under the assumption that it would be generally higher than the TL but was just wondering about what price range I should expect.

That window roll down feature is sweet, especially for those of us who drive with the windows down and enjoy their music. But does it have a function to roll them back up when locked? If not is there a product, like the aforementioned G35 thing, that would program it to do this?

Concerning the other issue - I'm not a fan of Car Dealers cause I've had my fair share of hassles, but you would expect a certain level of salesmanship with every customer when at these places. My experience has been that because of how young I look (definitely not 23) I get automatically treated like a joy rider, but a great credit check at any of these dealers soon changes their tone. Nothing bad to say about the Acura dealership though, they were nothing but helpful.

Just my

avs007

Funny you mention that... My G35 Coupe is actually cheaper to insure than my wife's TL by about $35 a month.

iambgood

Any Particular Reason Why?

~ B.Good

F23A4

With regard to auto insurance, that's a loaded question.

avs007

I honestly have no idea. I figure it was because Honda/Acura has higher theft rates or something. It's not just Allstate though, I asked my brother about his Odysee, and my coworkers with Accord V6 and TL, and they are about all the same, with the TL slightly more expensive.

ncxvtguy83

iTrader: (1)

If you leave your headlights on, lock your door and leave then your headlights will automatically turn off in 10 seconds or so. When you come back to unlock it, the headlights will automatically turn on right when you hit the unlock button. Not sure if that is what you are referring to. hope this was of help...

D_Nyholm

Cool, thanks for that info about the lights!!

ALso, for insurance rates, you can just call up your insurance carrier right now and ask them to give you a quote for each car. I pay $1800/year for 2 cars, both with full coverage. Granted I am 27, but I also live in NY (one of the highest insurance rates in the country). Just give them a call and see what they can do for you!

One more thing you might want to do is contact Danny Mayer from Grubbs infiniti (www.grubbs.com). They will basically give you the lowest price on any car that you want and they will ship it to you. There are many people on www.freshalloy.com that have used them. People from CA, NY, WI, etc... have all gotten cars from them and they are located in Texas. If you are a member of Freshalloy.com and sign up for their service (I think it costs $100), you are able to get VPP pricing on certain cars (VPP is basically a price right above invoice). I would suggest registering at freshalloy and doing some reading if the G35 is the car that you are going to get.

Chingrin

BGood

Your 23 no wife or kids! Get the coupe. Much hotter cruising around G-town or Adams Morgan!

iambgood

Very Very Very Good Point

Anyone got any pics of the Rims on both these cars ... not stock but the chrome upgrades?

Thanks,

95gt

Hey

Does anyone know how to build a G35 on the infiniti site with a 6 speed? I may be retarded but I can't seem to get that option, it always starts with the auto model?



I suck at the intraweb

avs007

There technically isn't a chrome option for the G35 per se, but some dealers have been chroming the stock rims. I haven't seen any 05' rims chromed. Those are forged 19" Rays Engineering wheels. This is a picture of an 04' G35 Coupe, that had the 18" rims chromed.

tlram

For 2005, the 6 speed version is yet to come out, scheduled for Jan 2005. Thats why you wouldnt see it.

avs007

And here's a picture of a TL, with chromed A-Spec rims...

95gt

That is crap, they put all the info about it on the site but you can't build it yet?

crappers

iambgood

Compared to that G35, the TL looks $#&*(@!@$ amazing. All that is stock with the A-Spec package? (excluding the tint)

iambgood

Anyone got a pic of the TL with those specs in the ABP and camel interior? That's the one I'm looking to buy in March.

Thanks

avs007

Yeah, that TL is stock, but I believe this particular one is lowered. Not that it matters but that G35 above it doesn't have the aero package, but it's not as pronounced as the A-Spec kit, so it probably doesn't matter. I wanted to get the A-Spec myself, until I found the local dealers wanted to rape me on the price of the kit.

Would you settle for a photoshop of an ABP version of the TL pictured above? I have all the masks, so it'll only take a few minutes to do it... (But I'm late for work, so I'll do it tonight)

iambgood

Yeah that photoshop will be fine, I haven't been able to find anyone with this exact spec so I'll take whatever I can get my hands on.

The body package for the G35 is nice, but it can't hold a candle to that TL. The only thing the G35 has that I wish the TL had was MP3 capability.

Also, how much was the dealer trying to charge for the body package?

Thanks,

avs007

Hopefully I got the right shade of blue.... If not, I can redo it easily... When I was shopping for one last year, none of the local dealers would part with an A-Spec for less than 44 large I don't know what's up with the dealers here. They also tacked on $10,000 on top of MSRP for the Pontiac GTO

iambgood

Great work with the photoshop, possible to get a darker shade of blue?

44k for the whole package?!?! :wtf: ... that's fu*kin nuts. I'll let you know how much they are quoting out this way when I hear back from the dealer. Hopefully my girls dad can get me a good price at his dealership. (fingers crossed)

Anyway, thanks again for the pics ... you have any more of this car?

Happy Friday

iambgood

Just another side note for everyone ... my girls dad ordered the ABP TL A-Spec with Camel, Nav, Chrome Wheels, etc today ... it should arrive late February.

Thanks for answering my questions, I'm sure I'll have more soon

Happy Friday

95gt

Nice choice and any way you can take off the scripted writing? Just bothers me for some reason.

Guess i hate people that have to be different

iambgood

haha, i refuse to be normal

~ B.Good

avs007

Is this blue dark enough

iambgood

Man that car is sweet, thanks for the pic

~ B.Good

ClnOB

INTERESTING POST FROM A CURRENT TL OWNER


Check it out.....G35driver.com...

TL or da G
Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 4



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have a 2004 ACura TL non-navi 5AT 1600 miles and I wanna trade it in for the '05 g35x after test driving it today. The car flew and never lost traction like i do in my acura (hard to put down 270 HP on the front wheels) and the car only had 35 miles on it so it is in the "break in" period and as the interior goes the '05 g35 is just as nice as the tl's. Cool features on the tl like bluetooth and DVD audio are great but i dont feel like spendin $300+ on a program so i can burn songs on a dvd that wont sound in 5.1 unless it was recorded that way and the bluetooth, finding the phone that will link witht the car is hard enough and dropped calls isnt very fun. Im sorry if im writing to much but im just giving you guys my opinion since i own a '04 tl and i want to trade it in for the g so bad. I just have one question iwas quoted from the dealer $36,000 '05 g35x + premium package and $33,400 w/o premium package. Anyone get a better price? If so where? I live in NYC and I will be going to Ray catena in NJ to get a better deal.

shodog

People can eventually gain enlightenment.

wavshrdr

Personally I disagree. The interior isn't up to the level of the TL. No way and I am not going to say that because I bought a TL. I shopped the G35. They depreciate super quick because Hertz whores them out. You can pick up a '04 G35 with 15k miles and pretty loaded for in the low 20's. Why buy new when slightly used will do?

The '05 G35 interior is still the uncomfortable layout it was before. If you are a Japanese sized person you might like it. For me the seat controls stabbed me under the thigh. The stereo isn't even close to the TL. The TL gets way better mileage.

If you are thinking about a G35x why not just buy an Audi? Buy a 1.8T A4, chip it (and a few other mods) and have a super fast AWD car. The G35 didn't have a great interior when it was introduced and it looks much older now. The TL runs heads up with a G35 even with a smaller motor. I could have easily bought either car as price really wasn't an issue but I definitely liked the nav much better on the TL, the stereo was definitely better. I was even willing to overlook the AWD/RWD advantage of the G35 to buy the TL. I might have considered the G35 more if it was AWD with a 6 spd and had better nav and seats.

Buy a G35 though and watch the price fall like a rock thanks to Hertz! If anyone is interested there are 2 excellent '04 G35 sedans near me with not a lot of miles for $23995. By the time you spec out a G35 to the level of the TL you spend more money. That is someone balanced by the fact that you can buy a G35 at a deep discount. Of course that hurts resale as well.

The G motor is much coarser than the TL. It doesn't shift as nice. Brakes felt about equal. I like the looks of the TL better. Anyway buy what you like.

D_Nyholm

While I agree with some of your thoughts, some of them are way off. The G35 does not depreciate super quick, it has one of the highest resale values out there (according to firtune magazine and a few others). I agree that the interior isn't the best out there, but it is far from the 'cheap' level that people are making it out to be. It is all a matter of tastes there. I like the way the interior looks in the G, and I think they made a decent improvement with the '05's. The seats in the G35 are incredible and there is the same if not more room in the G35 than in the TL (headroom). I am in no way a japanese sized person (6'2", 200 lbs) and I fit with no problem in the G. I am one of the people that think the seat controls are a good idea. THink about it, why JAM your hand between the door and the seat in order to control it? With them on top, they are very convenient and easy to use. Just because every other car manufacturer puts them on the side of the seat doesn't mean that it is right. The stereo is also very good in the G35. I was one who complained that it totally sucked in the beginning. After it actually broke in, it sounds great. SO much so that I don't want to replace it with an aftermarket unit, and i've had a few cars and been in plenty of cars with incredible sound systems. The 5.1 in the TL is basically useless and didn't sound any better than the stereo in the G35. Maybe with the dealers test CD it would sound incredible, but no one has music like that recorded like that.

Also, I don't see any TL's running 14.0-14.2 stock. Most are about 14.5 or so. The sedans are doing this every day, all day, with birdseye view nav and all, while being able to motor their nav screen away and out of sight when it isn't needed.
I wouldn't be comparing the TL's brakes to a G35's. They are no where near each other. The G35 stops as well as a Ferrari 360, the TL...well.....a TL (something like 130 ft 60-0, G35 115 ft 60-0, 360 115 ft 60-0, Murciolago (sp?) 155 ft 70-0, G35 155ft 70-0).

AWD version of the sedan are selling AT MSRP, coupes AT MSRP, and RWD sedans are discounted about the same as a TL (I can get a TL, AT/navi for about 33K here). It all depends on where you live and what you need in a car.

Lets also not get into bringing the TL vs. G35 on an autocross or open track. There is just no comparison there.

avs007

This is so far from the truth. According to Lease Guide Residuals , the G35 actually has the best resale in it's class, besting the TL. Other's have shown the same.

I'm definately much bigger than the typical japanese person, and I find the G35 seats to be super comfortable. You shouldn't judge a seat by a simple test drive.

As for prices, well, it really depends where you look. Over where I am, the local infiniti dealer is actually charging OVER MSRP for the G35. There are even used ones on the lot that are commanding near MSRP prices.

As for shift quality, I don't know if you were talking about 5AT or 6MT, but the 5AT is definately better in my G35 than my wife's TL. And the manumatic mode will even hold 1st gear up to the rev limiter, unlike the TL.

Yes, the interior isn't as nice, but it's all relative. My daily driver was a Pontiac GTP, so the interior of the G35 was still ultra-lux compared to that. My only gripe about the TL, is the blue dash lights. While cool looking, it has been scientifically proven that blue on black is very hard on your eyes. It gives me a headache after a while. I personally like Red on Black, which has been proven to be the easiest on your eyes, but I know some people hate that, so to each their own.

Buy what pleases you, because you are the one making the payments, not us...

DownUnder

Most if not all the 2004 Infiniti G35's that I see that are selling for $24K or $25K are former Hertz G35 rentals and NOT from private owners and dealers. And those Hertz G35's are NOT fully loaded, they only have leather and sunroof as options, which comes out to at most $31K or $32K. So it doesn't affect the overall residual value of the G35 as a whole.

And Hertz offers lots of luxury cars as rentals such as Mercedes', BMW's, Land Rover's, Jaguar's, Volvo's, etc.

wavshrdr

My experience has been with the local dealers here. You can easily buy an Infiniti at a much better discount than you can a TL. The local dealers talked discount long before I even asked price. Most of my comments are relative to the G35 SEDAN as that is the more apples to apples comparison.

As for what a guide says I personally don't care as the market value of a car is whatever anyone is willing to pay at that moment as the books don't buy the car, people do. In my area you can pick up an '04 G35 for much less than an '04 TL. Again look at my previous point about Hertz!

Once you have Hertz dumping their used cars on the market it tends to kill the resale of the car. That is what it has done in our market. Look at the price of $23995 for a low mileage G35 sedan! That is almost a 10K hit off the sticker price in 1 year. That is a huge drop.

As for judging the seats by a simple test drive, I didn't. I spent about 400 miles in a G35 before I bought. Remember, Hertz rents them! I rented one and thankfully I did. I found the seat controls dug into my thigh within 10 minutes and continued to be worse with time.

As for braking performance, tires can make a big difference. For example when Edmund's tested a TL they got stopping distances of 115 feet from 60 mph. The G35 did 111 (or almost 130) feet on what I personally think is better rubber but much closer than any of you portrayed. TL was slightly slower (or faster depending on tests) on acceleration but also much quiter. TL was over 1 (or 7) mph faster through the slalom.

If I were looking at buying another AWD it wouldn't be an Infiniti. I already have one and it'll run rings around my TL or the G35x or even coupe in dry, wet, snow, etc. AWD wasn't a big selling point for me because of that. I used the nav on a G35 and the TL does a much better job of it.

To me the cockpit felt much narrower than on the TL. The engine sounded coarser. It was definitely louder at almost all ranges. The list could go on. I really didn't care if the G35 was .2 or .7 seconds or whatever quicker than the TL as it still was going to be the slowest car I had anyway. The TL and G35 aren't race cars anyway. We have some of the crappiest roads in the US and the TL did a much better job on the frost damaged roads. Hit the brakes hard here and the G35 definitely didn't brake was well as the TL. As for the brake specs if you look around you can find someone to support either position that the TL is better or the G35 is better. I went out and tested them myself on a crappy bridge and the TL outstopped the G35 on my test course. I took along my accelerometer and on my less than perfect surface the TL outstopped the G35 by 10 feet!

A also ran instrumented test on both cars for acceleration and the G35 was about .2 seconds quicker 5AT vs. 5AT to 60 and .3 quicker in the 1/4 mile. Not a big enough difference to worry about. On fuel economy the TL had better mileage as well during my personal testing. On my test loop at 70 mph the TL got 31 mpg and the G35 27.5 mpg.

All in all the G35 is not a bad car, I liked the TL better. It's not as nice as my MB nor as quick as my other cars or trucks but its still fun to drive. I've owned a lot of Datsuns, Nissans and even an original Infinity Q45. I am not biased against them in anyway. I've owned more of them than Honda products.

So I didn't just do a simple test drive. I spent a lot of time in both cars. In the TL I never feel cramped. I love the smoothness of the engine. The body transmits less of the thumping noise of expansion joints than the G35 did. Acura service is better here than Infiniti. If I wanted to save money I could have bought the G35 but I wanted the better car for my conditions. I find it curious that if you go to the Infiniti web site and see what cars they by default want you to compare the G35 sedan against. Here is what THEY want you to compare against. Here are their default competitors (or put another way, the ones they think they stack up best against).
Audi A4 3.0 CVT
BMW 3 Series 325i
Jaguar X-Type 3.0
Lexus IS 300 5ECTi

To each their own. After having my TL for about a month now I'd buy another one in a heartbeat if anything happened to it. Not many cars I'd say that about.

wavshrdr

It doesn't have to be Hertz. Our local Infiniti dealer has a non-sale price of $25k for a '04 G35 with 14,000 miles. A used 6spd G35 with an extra set of wheels and tires and low mileage is 27k asking price. G35s don't sell well in my area. You can choose to believe it or not. I had dealers calling me the day after I left saying we can drop the price another grand. I spent a pretty long time in the car business and I am not an idiot. There was even a G35 6spd coupe not to long ago low miles (<10k) and again with a set of spare wheels and tires for 28k.

Let me see how I can make my point even clearer. I want you to go to a local Infiniti dealer's website and this will be the icing on the cake. They want more money for a used TL than they do for a used G35. It is on the order of 20% more. Isn't Infiniti having their winter sales event in your area? Only reason they have sales is because the cars aren't moving on their own! Go here:

http://www.lupientinfiniti.com/Preowned-Inventory.aspx

DownUnder

Those G35's that you mention are most likely BASE models that doesn't have NAV, premium package, sport package etc.


Year Make Model Trim Exterior Color Stock Number ePrice
2004 Acura TL 3.2 Blue N40515A $31,995
2004 Infiniti G35 Base WHITE 80103 $25,995
2003 Infiniti G35 Base SILVER 80302 $25,995
2003 Infiniti G35 Base RED 80327 $26,495
2003 Infiniti G35 Base DES PLATINUM N40880A $25,995
2003 Infiniti G35 Base BLACK N40646A $26,995

Yea, that makes a lot of sense, they're selling a BASE 2004 G35 for about the same price as the 2003 base G35's. Either that price on the 2004 is a typo or it has been in an accident.

wavshrdr

Not a typo on the price. They claim no damage history. Car has a sunroof. It is obvious I'm going to have to break it down for you. We can all agree on that worst case the care is a base with a roof. That car had a retail of $31,890. So the car dropped from 31890 to 25995. Now take the TL (non navi) it was a $33220 retail car.

So according to the dealer that should favor their own product, their car took a anlmost $6k hit in price and the TL took ~$1,300 or approx. 75% less depreciation. Tough to argue with the prices coming from an Infiniti dealer. As I have said before, my market is much stronger for TL than G35s. Try and explain away the difference. I could understand it if it was on an Acura lot but at the competition? So it doesn't matter a bit what the books say.

I'll give you another example. A FORD dealer took a 6 spd '04 TL in on trade. They had 2 G35's on the lot. They were priced 4k under the TL and 1 was 6MT and the other 5AT. The TL sold before I could even get over to take a look at it. It was a non-navi '04, SSM/Ebony 6k miles and it sold for 31,995. TLs sell incredibly well in my area. I would have thought that the G35x would fly off the lots since we have severe winters but the TLs outsell them here as well and they obviously aren't AWD.

wavshrdr

Had to quote on this. Actually Infiniti got it wrong here and so did Acura. My MB has the controls on the door up by the handle. You don't have to jam your hand anywhere. It is in clear plain sight. Not only that it doesn't interfere with the seat bolster like it does on the G35. I can assure my thighs are much bigger than yours and they easily impact the seat controld. I bicycle about 15-20 miles a day and I am 6'2" 265. The G35 is the only car I've had that problem with. Even my wife how is much smaller than I am complained about it too. Take a look at the MB's and you will see they have a great idea with the door controls (now if they could only sort out the nav systems).